Vise



March 1944- D. WACHSMAN 2,343,391

VISE

Filed Oct. 31, 1942 Patented Mar. 7, 1944 UNITED, STATES "PATENT oFrlc Application October 31, 1942, Serial No. 464,035

2 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in vises oi the type in which a movable jaw is moved towards a fixed jaw to grip the work between the jaws and hold it to be operated upon by a tool. One object of the invention is to provide means for adjusting the position of the movable jaw with respect to the fixed jaw to provide additional space between the jaws for gripping work which may vary widely in dimensions, such adjustment being in addition to the ordinary adjustment of the jaws to grip the work. Another object is to provide means whereby to clamp the work down upon or between the jaws to prevent the work from jumping upwards out of the grip of the jaws. The tendency to jump or spring out from the space between the jaws even after they are adjusted to grip the work is quite frequent with certain types and shapes of work. Other features of novelty will be pointed out hereinafter. embodied in a vise constructed as hereinafter set forth and as illustrated in the accompanying drawing in which Fig. 1 is a plan view of the vise with parts broken.

Fig. 2 is a side View of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is an end View looking in the direction of the arrow 3 in Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a sectional view on the line 4-4 in Fig. 2.

Fig. 5 is a diagrammatic View showing the additional adjusting movement of the movable jaw.

Fig. 6 is a detail view showing a modification from the construction in Fig. 2.

Fig. '7 is a detail View showing a modification or other form of the means for clamping the work down upon the jaws.

Fig. 8 is a sectional detail view of parts shown in Fig. '7.

The vise jaws are arranged to grip and hold work between them the same as in any standard vise. In the drawing the work is indicated in Figs. 1 and 2 by the dotted rectangles marked 10. The work is gripped between a fixed jaw H and a movable jaw 2. The fixed jaw is secured to a base consisting of two parallel bars l3, l3. These latter are joined at the operating end of the vise, to the left in the drawing, by a bearing 14. At the other end the bars I3 are joined by a cross bar I5. Thus the fixed base of the vise is formed longitudinally by the bars I3 and transversely by the cross members I 4 and I5. The vise is adapted to be secured to the bed of a milling machine or like mechanism, not shown, or to some other bed or support as the case may Accordingly the invention is be. For this purpose thecross bar :5 is formed with a foot 16 having a slot I'lthr-ough which passes a screw I 8 down into-the supporting bed or member. At the operating end a bracket: I9 is secured to the bars l3 and is likewise formed with a foot It with slot and bolt I"! and 18. Other means may be provided for securing the vise in operating position with respect to the work. 1 i

The movable jaw is adjustably clamped tothe guide rods 2!), 20,: by any suitable clamping means such as shown in Fig. 4. The jaw may have an integral base lug 2t against which aclamp22 is screwed by a screwZS-toclampthe jaw to the rods in an obvious manner. By loosening the screw 23 the clamp is released from the rods and the jaw l2-may then be. slid-along the rods as shown in Fig. 5 toprovideadditional space between the jaws. The guide rods zilextend longitudinally of the vise. :Theirinner ends aresecured to a; block 25. The outer free ends extendthrough holes in cross bar ldwhich serves as a guide forthe rods.

The movable jaw l2 and the block 25are undercut as at 21, Figs. 3 and 4, so as to rest upon and slide upon the bars l3 to guide these parts in their movements. The block 25 is in threaded engagement with an operating screw 29 which extends through the bearing [4 and whose inner end is suitably supported in the fixed jaw I I. A keeper 3| engages an annular groove 32 in the screw, Fig. 3, to prevent axial movement of the screw. The latter has a head 33 to be operated upon by a ratchet wrench or like tool, not shown, for rotating the screw.

In operation when the screw 29 is rotated clockwise, the screw being preferably right handed, the block 25 is caused to move towards the bearing l4 and through the instrumentality of the rods 20 the movable jaw I2 is likewise caused to move towards the fixed jaw II to grip the work In between the two jaws as in an ordinary vise. A reverse rotation of the screw 29 releases the work from the jaws. If the lateral dimension of the work is relatively great, the movable jaw is adjusted along the rods 20 to accommodate such larger work as will be understood. If the work is relatively small in dimension in the longitudinal direction of the vise, the jaw I2 is adjusted closer to the fixed jaw. Thus by adjusting the work space between the jaws to suit the work in hand only small movements of the movable jaw is required to grip the work.

In order to clamp the work down upon the jaws, or rather to clamp the work downwardly between the jaws the following means are provided. The block 25 has a number of holes 35 and 3G in the top and side respectively and the bars I 3 near the right hand end has each two holes 31 and 38, one on top and one on the side. When the work is about to be finally tightly gripped between the jaws a cable or chain 40 with one end or point secured to a pin 42 which fits into the hole 38 is placed upon the work III as shown in Figs. 1 and 2 and pulled taut, the other end or another point in the chain being secured to another pin 43 which fits into the holes 36. When new the screw 29 is given a final turn or rotation the chain is obviously tightened and firmly draws the work down upon some sort of suitable support 50 which is placed between the jaws, such support being a known means for supporting the work. Thus the work is gripped between the jaws and also prevented from vertical movement whereby it might jump out from its intended working position. Fig. 1 also shows another chain 52 stretched between the hole 31 in the bar l3 and a hole 35 in the block 25 to show that this clamping means is adapted to be used to suit the shape of the work. No specific form of chain or cable is shown as this is a matter of suitable selection for the purpose.

It will be observed that when the work is clamped as in Figs. 1 and 2 an operating tool cannot work transversely of the vise upon the work in. However Figs. '1 and 8 show similar clamping means to permit such operation. In these views the fixed jaw H and the movable jaw l2 have vertical grooves 60 in their end surfaces. These grooves receive the legs 8| of head clamps 62, there being of course a leg at each end of the clamps 52 which are of a dimension to cover the tops of the jaws. Thus a work piece 65 may be laid upon the jaws with its edges caught under the clamps 82 as the jaws are moved together. The work in this case is gripped between the legs Bl. The legs have pins 66. Before the screw 29 is given the final turn a chain 68 is passed from the pins 42, Fig. 1, over the pins 66 and to a pin 43 in the block 25. When the screw is given the final turn the chain is tightened and draws the head clamps down upon the work. An operating tool may now be used upon the work transversely of the vise.

The modification in Fig. 6 shows that the cross bar l5 may be in the form of another fixed jaw 10. Thus when the screw 29 is rotated the movable jaw may be caused to move towards the second fixed jaw 10 to grip the work at that point of the vise. This is a desirable feature in that it adds a second usable jaw space to the tool.

The invention provides a vise in which the usable space between the jaws may be adjusted to suit the size of the work before it is placed in the vise thereby eliminating much turning of the operating screw and speeding the work. The construction also includes the means for clamping the work in gripped position to prevent upwards movement thereof. In general the instant vise is a very simple and easily operated tool suited for a large variety of work.

I claim:

1. In a vise, a fixed jaw, a movable jaw, means for moving the latter towards the fixed jaw to grip work between the jaws and a chain having one end secured to said vise and the other end ajustably secured to the said moving means and operated by the latter into clamping engagement with the work to prevent upwards vertical displacement of the work between the jaws.

2. In a vise, a fixed jaw, a movable jaw, a movable member connected to the movable jaw for moving the same towards the fixed jaw to grip work between the jaws, flexible means secure to said vise and said movable member and adapted to engage the work between the jaws and a screw for operating said movable member to move the movable jaw into final work gripping position and automatically tighten said flexible means into clamping engagement with the work for the purpose described.

DAVID WACHSMAN. 

